The Pokemon Philosophy

[Isabelle]

Lopunny woke to the sound of voices.
“She looks like a bunny rabbit goro.” She heard one voice say.
“She’s our girl then.” Another chimed in. “Hey, wake up bunny goro!”
Slowly. she opened her eyes as her vision comes into focus. Above her were two round orange faces attached to even rounder bodies. They peered curiously down on her. She propped herself up to get a better look at the two.
“Hello.” She said groggily.
“Are you Lopunny?” asked one of the two.
“Ummm,” she had to think for a moment. “Yes, yes I am.”
“Then why are you in our rock mine?”
The words took a second to sink in. Her eyes shot upon as it finally dawn on her. She jumped to her feet, hands clasped together.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to trespass!” She started, “I just needed somewhere to sleep before going up Death Mountain!”
The two looked at each other in confusion.
“We’re not angry goro,” he calmly explained, “In fact, you could have slept at our village, we’ve been long expecting you.”
Confused, afraid, and tired, she took a second to process this.
“Wait, are you the Go-” She didn’t have a chance to finish her sentence. One of the two lifted her up and placed her on his large shoulder. They make their way to the mountain. She took this as proof of their identity.
The trip gave her time to process. She remembered the events of the night before, the death of the poor chick. While she felt a twinge of sadness, she tried her best to rationalize it. The punch she threw was in self-defense, and she didn’t kill the chick directly. She figured it was just the cruelty of nature that killed that chick. Not to mention, that eagle was dumb enough to build it’s nest within range of Death Mountain; the location where all these baby dragons seems to be coming from. Everyone involved with that nest was doomed to begin with. But she still felt like crap.
“So where did you come from?” The Goron asked, breaking her from her thoughts, “Never seen a rabbit like you before.”
“I’m not a rabbit, I’m a Pokemon.” Lopunny responded, “I’m from the same place as Medicham.”
“Master Medicham has told us many things about his world, goro. We marvel at the concept of never seeking freedom in the face of imprisonment. The thought was so alien to us, but he explained it well.”
‘What does that mean?’ Lopunny thought.

The two Gorons brought her up along a path around the base of the mountain. They crossed the threshold of some large rock door. Inside was a large cavern; woven tapestries decorated the walls, baring symbols that were alien to her. Many other Gorons were there, some where dancing, some where loafing around, some were transforming into balls and rolling around, but as the pair crossed the room, many dropped what they were doing to give Lopunny a good look over. As they crossed into the next room, the Gorons started to file in, following.
The next room looked like a dining hall, with long wide tables that stretch far in each direction. She was carried to the center of the furthest wall, where a goron, wearing special clothing to differentiate from the rest, sat. Lopunny guessed that he was the leader.
“You must be Lopunny.” The goron chieftain spoke. “I’m guessing you’ve figured out that we had been expecting you. For sometime really.”
“I’m sorry I took so long.” She responded candidly, “I had a few detours.”
“It’s quite alright young one. It’s a bit of a journey for someone so small such as yourself, so it’s understandable.” He climbed to his feet. “Plus anyways, who has heard of a rock who does not know patience?”
The room broke out in uproarious laughter, which took her by surprise. She didn’t notice the room had filled up. Didn’t help that she didn’t get the joke.
“We shall feast in honor of our new guest!” Said the elder followed by hurrahs all around.

The gorons sat along the long tables, a plate full of rocks in front of each. They hungrily scarfed down the stones one by one in so few bites. Lopunny sat next to the elder, a plate of strange looking veggies sat in front of her. She was told that it was steamed cactus from the Endless Dunes, but she didn’t quite fully understand that. After a small sample bite, she gorged. She forgot to feed herself again it seems.
The gorons sang, told jokes, and chatted for hours. Lopunny largely kept to herself and didn’t say much, but she listened as they told tales from their culture. Spoke of a legend of some hero of time. Spoke of princesses and dark skinned tyrants. It all sounded like something out of a fairy tale. She truly was in a different world.
After they have all eaten their fill, Lopunny turns to the elder.
“Sorry, I don’t mean to be rude, but when can I see Medicham?” She asked.
“Well, I’m sorry but… Um” He began.
“He’s not here, is he?”
The elder jumped at the question, as if it was ridiculous of her to ask.
“What? No! He’s here. But you can’t see him quite yet.”
“Why not?”
The elder looked slightly ashamed.
“He told us not to let you see him until you passed a test.”
Lopunny took a second to process. Before she laughed.
“A test? Well, after all I’ve been through, I’m sure I’ll ace it!” She said, her laugh turned into a chuckle. “What did you have in mind?”

Lopunny stood in the center of a square boxing ring, her opponent was the elder himself wearing red boxing gloves. gorons on the sidelines were cheering, rooting for their favorites, and making bets. It was discouraging how many were betting against her.
The bell sounds off. She barely tilts her head out of the way as that red-gloved fist flies past her. She leaps out of the way of another blow, and another. She blessed Arceus for her speed.
The fourth punch threw him a little off balance. Spotting the window, she launched a punch so fast that is sent sparks flying through his body. At first, she felt stupid, using an electric move on a rock type, but it seems to have genuinely affected him none-the-less. After staggering back a bit, he rears up to throw another punch; his movement visibly slowed. Considering it worked last time, she threw another Thunder Punch, but to her surprise, no lighting came out this time, but it still connected with the goron and sent him back a few steps.
She looked at her fist in confusion.
‘I have Fire Punch, Thunder Punch, Ice Punch, and Bounce. When did I learn a fighting type move?’ She thought, puzzled.
But then she barely ducked out of the way as he threw another punch. Reacting quickly, she countered with an uppercut. Knocking him off his balancing again, she began a succession of blows against the elder, each one sending him back a few inches. For the finale, she lit up her fist and sent a Fire Punch straight into his face, knocking him through the ropes and out of the ring. Then Lopunny proceeded to rub her knuckles in pain because punching rock hurts like heck.
The crowd roared in excitement. The elder got back up and silenced the group.
“I think that’s good enough.” He shouted so everyone could hear. “I’ll take you to Medicham personally.”
Lopunny smiled, her quest was at an end.

Out through a door in the back, the elder lead her up a path. In the distance, meditating on a ledge was Medicham. The elder left back for the village as she approached the focused master. She had finally closed the distance to 30 feet, when he finally broke his meditation to note her presence.
“You came.” He stated.
“I did.” She replied.
There was silence for a while before he spoke again.
“I am disappointed.”
“Di-disapointed?” She reacted.
She was confused and hurt. After coming all this way to see him, he was disappointed? Confusion quickly transformed into a boiling rage.
“How could you be disappointed? I braved lava flows, I fought dragons and giant eagles a like, I entertained the Koopa King himself, and I nearly died many times!”
“And why did you do it? Because a complete stranger told you to?”
Lopunny searched for a rebuttal, but couldn’t summon one.
“You had no reason to trust me, you didn’t even have proof that I saved you from the Gengar, heck, I didn’t even give you the reason I wanted you to come here, and yet you risked your life entirely on my orders?”
She was speechless. She hadn’t thought about why she was doing this. Suddenly she started to feel incredibly stupid. She kept digging for a reason.
“Well… you were the one that told me about my lineage and I thought…” She started, noticing how futile this was. She turned away in shame. “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”
“Yes, I’m sure it did,” he said in a bit more of a sympathetic tone. “Lost in strange place, it’s so much easier to follow the orders of another. It’s the only thing that makes sense when our kind has lost everything else…”
He gives off a sad little sigh.
“You’re a Pokemon alright…”